Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A51697
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The axe at the root of professors miscarriages in a plain detection of, and a wholesome caveat against the miscarriages opposite to faith in God / by Thomas Mall ...
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Mall, Thomas, b. 1629 or 30.
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1668
(1668)
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Wing M328; ESTC R12069
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51,837
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51
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they do not necessarily and infallibly conclude that a Man hath faith Conclude not for your selves by finding the antecedents of Faith 2 There are some things which faith only doth produce yet because it d th not produce them always a Man must not therefore negatively conclude from the absence of them the absence of faith 3 There are some things which faith only doth produce not as essential properties but as magnificent Testimonies Conclude not against your selves for the want of such effects of faith Be sure that you do not any longer try your selves by uncertain qualifications that belong not to every Believer at all times and none but believers but try your selves by sine infallible marks by the essential properties and effects of Faith in God Set not about this work without hearty cries to God for his spirit to irradiate the grace you are searching after and by witnessing with your spirit to put you out of doubt It is a vain thing for you to go about this work much more to think to go through with it by any strength of your own And be sure that you take heed of provoking God to withdraw from you in this work Cantâ— 4.4 5 6 7. Do not refuse the Light of Assurance when offered Hereupon Christ withdrew from the Spouse but put your selves in a disposed an I prepared way to receive the evidencing Light of the Spirit who will not affine you whether you will or no. Do not make use of Signs in a prejudicial way to those direct and immediate Acts of Faith Burges c. page 56 57. whereby you close with God While you are poring and digging into your own heart to finde faith there forget not to exercise applicative Acts of Faith When ever you would go down into your own hearts and take a view of your own graces first close with God himself in Christ and afterwards begin afresh upon the encouragement you have from the fight of grace within you to act Faith upon God with a redoubled strength 2 Pet 1 9 Mat 25 29 He that lacketh these things i. e. that doth not use them so not to use Talents is not to have them is blinde and soon forgetteth all the grace he hath If God do not appear presently do not murmur and repine against him While Job thought that God wronged him God ceased not to scare him with dreams and terrify him with visions but when he justified God God appeared for him But for a more full handling of the miscarriages about self-examination which you should mourn for and take heed of I shall refer you to the twentieth chapter of the Gospel-glass 4 Resting in an imaginary Assurance Against an imaginary assurance Presumption is mainly the work of a strong fancy What the â—ich Believer hath by propriety and in possession the same hath the presumptuous Professor in a dreaming fancy and imagination He pretends to be as knowing as bel eving as confident as the true Believer he never doubted of his Interest in God none more â—ocond and merry then he is thereupon Hath not this been your sin And is not God therefore contending with you Because we have built our house upon the Sands is not God razing all our sandy Foundations Psal 66.10 Psal 25.8 Because we have been careless of trying our selves is not God trying us as silver is tryed May not we even say God and upright is the Lord that will teach sinners his way that by the Thunder-claps of his Righteous Judgements is resolved to awaken us out of those foolish dreams in which if we should die we were undone for ever O that we may be dreamers no longer O take heed of presuming once more that God is your God either because he made you so he did the Devils Gods making you puts you into the relation of creatures unto God and God of a Creatour unto you but not of a chief-chief-good and supream Lord. He is your Creatour Psal 17.14 whether you will or no but so he is not your God Or because you prosper in every thing and are not in trouble and distress as other men The more you have of a portion in this life the more cause you have to sear that God is not your portion Or because Christ hath died for you to purchase an interest in God So he hath if you will consent to have him for your chief good and Sovereign Lord other wise not O! how great will your confusion be when your Gold shall be found Dress your Wine to be Water your Graces to be Corruptions And you your selves appear no better then the mad Athenian Burges Resining paâ—t 1. Serm. 6. Serm. 30. and 118. who thought all the Ships on the Sea were his Take heed of such a confidence of an interest in God as hath ignorance and self-love for its procreant causes as is grounded on a meer natural light or some false reasonings as is wrought without any serious deep humiliation for being without God preceding it and easily without any opposition as leaves the soul idle in the Work of God without love to and encouragement in God as is not attended with an holy fear and humility and as is not destroyed by sin but crosses Such a confidence is a presumptuous confidence and not assurance Even hypocrites may have some experimental knowledge Sern â—â— 3. and yet not assurance of Faith they may know that they are enlightned and have other common gifts of the Holy-Ghost that sin is imbittered to their souls that they do assent to scripture Truths that they have some desires after God and Christ that they do at sometimes and in some things trust in God and yet they want saving Faith and therefore cannot know they have it O! take heed of thievishly fingering the Kings Coin without a Warrant Christ told the Jews that they were of their father the Devil John 8.54 though of his Father they said he is our God they made their boasts and brags that God was their God but God and Christ disowned them Chap. VI. The miscarriages opposite to confession the external Act of Faith in God Against positive confession without a call 1. RAsh adventuring upon positive confession without a Call from Heaven Hath not this been the sin of some and have not all Professors smarted for it The Acute Author of Christ Confessed who as the Publisher observes hath cut by a thread in clearly and judiciously determing the present grand Cases of the times gives a three-fold Answer to this Question At what times are we priviledged from and by consequence not called unto positive confession of Christ Christ confessed p. 65 66. 1 When the engagements for self-safety are not preponderated by or in an equal poize with those for our Saviours glory 2. When the interest both of the confession and Confessor will be visibly prejudiced 3. When the ends of confessing Christ cannot manifestly be promoted
to inslave our consciences to Men be given up to so soar a bondage They shall be his servants that they may know my service and the service of the Kingdomes of the Country i.e. That they may know the difference between them the bondage of the one and the liberty of the other O that this may be your sin no more why should ye be any longer willing to be the servants of Men seeing one is your Master which is Christ 2. Sinful Incredulity Against Incredulity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere fidem habere testimonium accipere The assenting act of faith is a full perswasion of any truth upon a divine testimony The Hebrews the Greeks the Latines express it by such words as import believing or giving credit to Many think all Infidels are without the pale among Turks and Heathens But alas are not too many found in the bosomes of Churches The Israelites were Gods people and yet destroyed in the Wilderness because they believed not And may not we fear destruction for our unbelief Capel of temprations page 153 154. Are not we still guilty of not believing that God is what God is and what God saith One well observes that all sin comes from Atheisme for who would sin did he then verily believe that there were a God that saw all and would punish all And such a God God must be or no God And all sin tends to Atheisme for sin wipes out all the notions of a Deity as much as it can And when we are in sin we must be either willing to get out of it by Repemance or else we shall be willing to turn Atheists Guilt always saith another begets fear and fear hatred and hatred strikes at the being of the object hated Bates on Heb. 11.6 in M. E. at G. page 52. Gedolphins holy Arbor page 17 as is evident in Malefactors desiting there were no Law nor Judge Do not we say in our hearts there is no God so the fool the sinner doth It is Atheisme saith one when Men do but in their hearts say that it is all vanity which is spoken of God Are not we still guilty of not believing what God is Do not we deny if not expresly yet consequentially Gods absolute dominion to command us the goodness as well as righteousness of the law of God by which we ought to be ruled that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seeke him and the avenger of his adversaries that he sees our thoughts afar off and that our greatest secrets are naked and open to anatomized and diffected before his eyes that he is good yea the chief good Are not we still guilty of not believing what God saith which of us is yet fully perswaded that our losses for Christ shall be made up with the hundred fold in this life because he hath said Verily there is no Man that hath left House Luk. 18.29 30. mat 19 29. or Parents or Brethren or Wife or Children for the Kingdome of Gods sake who shall not receive manyfold in this present time He shall according to Matthew receive an hundred fold Which of us yet believes that God will repay what ever we lay out for his poor servants because he hath said Prov. 19.17 He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord and that which he hath given will be pay him again Which of us yet believes that if we will be Christs witnesses none of the World will cordially love us Mat. 10.22 because he hath said yee shall be hated of all Men for my names sake Which of us yet believes that all Hells and the Worlds hatred can do a Child of God no hurt because he hath said Blessed are yee when Men shall revile you Mat. 5.11 and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my Names sake We are indeed apt to beguile our selves and others in professing that we receive Gods testimony in all that he speaks but the Apostle tells us there is a denial of God in works Tit. 1.16 as well as in words and certainly denial in works is the strongest denial and manifests that our affirming what God saith in words is but meer hypocrisie that we do but flatter God with our mouth Psal 73 35 compared with v. 40 41. and lie unto him with our tongues Are not we still guilty of neglecting to get our hearts more and more established in believing that God is what God is and what God saith Is not this a lamentation and should it not be for a lamentation should we not mainly repent of our unbelief seeing it is not only the provocation but the cause of all our other provocations Hebr. 3 8. No wonder that God hath shamed the throne of our glory seeing we have rob'd God of his glory by our unbelief What is Gods declarative glory but his reputation in the World Unbelief takes away Gods reputation it makes him of no credit in the World it makes him a lyar 1 John 5 10. Rom. 3.3 By unbelief we attempt to make the faith of God i. e. his faithfulness of none effect O! repent repent that God who is no debtor to you who was never worse then his word hath so little credit with you who profess to be his servants his children his spouses No wonder that we are kept in the Wilderness yea in a manner brought back into Egypt We may thank our unbelief for shutting us out of Canaan Heb 3 19 They could not enter in because of unbelief No wonder that Gods promises the only solid grounds o◠comfort in times of tryal do not cannot comfort us alas Psal 27 13 they have no credit with us We faint because we believe not O that this sin may be your sin no more Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you for the future an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Hebr 3 12 and thereby God be provoked to depart further and further from you until he hath left you totally and finally 3 Vnsetledness in Religion Hath not this been your sin yea Against unsetledness is it not still your sin Who believes without wavering without any fear lest the contrary should prove true Are not you troubled with a Vertigo in your Heads a giddiness in your understandings Have not some thought scepticisme very tollerable 1 Cor 16 13 Col 2 6 7 8◠2 Thes 2 2 Hath not the Apostle said stand fast in the faith Be established in the faith as you have been taught c. Beware lest any spoyle you through philosophy and vain deceit be not soon shaken in mind Brinsley's spiritual Vertigo p 9 10 11 c. And yet have not many been for an Academical and Pyrrhonian demur and dubitation concerning Scripture Revelations Have not more been actually carried about as wheels as chaff as waves as clouds with every wind of